


Extra-Extraordinary Girl, Interrupted

by FlyingPigPoet



Series: There Oughta Be a Superhero Handbook [5]
Category: Supergirl (TV 2015)
Genre: Gen
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2017-06-22
Updated: 2017-06-23
Packaged: 2018-11-17 05:21:01
Rating: Not Rated
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 8
Words: 4,947
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/11268762
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/FlyingPigPoet/pseuds/FlyingPigPoet
Summary: Bizarro, with point of view split between Kara and Bizarro. Just because Bizarro can't express herself fluently doesn't mean she doesn't think and feel and wonder about all of what her Lord and her Nemesis put her through.





	1. The Book of Maxwell, 1:1

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> "And life itself is the thing I am coming to learn, as I watch the segments that tell me about my counterpart, my enemy: Supergirl, the Girl of Steel. She is strong, as I am. She is framed by sunlight. So I shall be. And although they are deluded, all of National City think that Supergirl is as good as she is beautiful. Once I have aired her crimes, I shall replace her. They shall look upon me and I shall protect them."

Overview: the lights of National City, a grid, a pattern, but within the squares, many smaller dots of light without discernable pattern.

Three Months Ago

Unlike most humans, and perhaps aliens as well, I remember my birth. Not clearly, and not all of it, but I remember the surge in my veins and the first moment when I opened my mouth and gasped for breath.

Yesterday

When my Lord removed the veil from my eyes and allowed me to view him for the first time, he smiled upon me and intoned, "'Death is the veil which those who live call life. They sleep and it is lifted.' Shelley, Prometheus Unbound. In this room I have created things that enabled people to live in ways they never imagined before. All that means nothing now. Because of you, my most perfect creation. Together, we won't just change the world. We'll change the meaning of life itself. Do you understand me?"

And I replied unto him, "Yes, my Lord."

And life itself is the thing I am coming to learn, as I watch the segments that tell me about my counterpart, my enemy: Supergirl, the Girl of Steel. She is strong, as I am. She is framed by sunlight. So I shall be. An although they are deluded, all of National City think that Supergirl is as good as she is beautiful. Once I have aired her crimes, I shall replace her. They shall look upon me and I shall protect them.


	2. Mistaken Identity

Back at the DEO, Supergirl watched the newsfeeds with Alex and J'onn. She saw the spitting image of herself throw the car into the river and cringed.

J'onn said, "Not exactly one of your greatest hits."

Supergirl groaned. "She is ruining my reputation!"

Alex said, "I sent a team to scan the area. No signs of extraterrestrial activity, so we can probably rule out an alien shape-shifter, unless there's something you're not telling us."

"The skirt was surprisingly comfortable, but no."

"But who could she be?" asked Supergirl. "Is it a clone?"

"Unlikely," said Alex. "Even if an enemy had harvested your DNA when you came out as Supergirl, the embryo would still be in gestation."

"What about Maxwell Lord?" asked Supergirl. "You know he hates me."

Alex nodded. "Could he have done something to the woman you saw when you broke into his lab?"

"She was comatose," said J'onn. "The cerebral cortex functioning was almost nonexistent. Brining her back to even partial consciousness would be like raising the dead."

"Are you sure?" asked Supergirl.

"Maxwell Lord does have a God complex, but he is not an actual god."

And Kara simply had to take that as the best she could ask for, for now. Meanwhile, work beckoned, but this time, work was not going to take her away from her biggest worry. Because there was no way Cat Grant was going to ignore "her creation" going so far off book as to be a mime. She was not wrong.

When Cat summoned the troops and commanded them to pitch headlines that would "grab eyeballs," they happily, if badly, complied.

"Supergirl Gone Rogue."

"Supergirl: Super Menace?"

Kara murmured, "Maybe it's not even Supergirl at all."

Everyone turned to stare at her. Cat said, "Keira, say more."

"Well, maybe it's someone trying to discredit her. Didn't that happen to Superman a few years back?"

"Hm. I like that. It's showing that we're not choosing to believe the worst of people. All right, everybody, get out."

//

The Superfriends took the opportunity to gather in Ed Flaherty's old office (may he rest in peace).

"All right," said Winn. "What do you need?"

"Maxwell Lord had a woman in his lab. She could be tied to this. Can you check hospital records to see if any comatose patients have gone missing recently? My age, my height, my weight?"

"Yeah," said Winn. "I have all those numbers. What? I needed them when I built the suit!"

James chose not to comment on that. He stood up and stretched. "It seems like a long shot. Why go to so much trouble just to discredit you?"

Kara sighed. "With Max it's never simple. He probably started with some kind of Frankenstein idea, an experiment, and now he is using me to justify it to himself. If he's protecting the city, he doesn't have to feel bad about hacking an innocent woman's life."

Winn grimaced. "Can we just arrest him for being generally creepy?"

James shook his head. "Alas, creepery isn't actually illegal."

Supergirl paced in frustration behind them. "I need to DO something."

Winn and James shared a look. James said, "I could pull out the police scanner, find you some cats caught up trees? Hey, maybe you can rescue Fluffy again."

Supergirl growled. "I hate snakes. Don't talk to me about Fluffy."

"Guys," said Winn. "Go do your CatCo jobs. I can't focus with backseat drivers."


	3. The Book of Maxwell, 2:1

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> "I had pale blue sensors on my skin: on my forehead, throat, hands, knees. I sat in my chair and watched the footage of Supergirl, the other Supergirl, saving people. But whenever I saw a rescue and expected to feel good, satisfied, pleased, instead I felt pain."

Overview: National City at three in the afternoon. The summer sun is hot, the smog is thin but it creates a golden filter that makes the city beautiful when viewed from high above, as in the eyes of a woman in flight.

//

I had pale blue sensors on my skin: on my forehead, throat, hands, knees. I sat in my chair and watched the footage of Supergirl, the other Supergirl, saving people. But whenever I saw a rescue and expected to feel good, satisfied, pleased, instead I felt pain.

The Lord entered the room. "Anything good on TV?" he asked.

"Supergirl," I muttered, still reeling from the pain. 

"Yes," he said. "What is Supergirl?"

I considered the question. It was troubling to me that as I watched the Woman of Steel do things that my programming told me were correct, even laudatory, the fact that she was the individual doing them caused me pain. I thought, if it were I doing such things, I would feel great pleasure, and all the people would applaud my actions.

Yes," he repeated. "What is Supergirl?"

"Very bad."

"Very bad. So bad she needs to be stopped, stopped and replaced by my own Supergirl. Who's there to protect me and the planet?"

"Me."

"Yes. And what do we do to bad people?"

"We... kill them."


	4. Confrontation

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> "Kara left the DEO frustrated, but really the CatCo was no better. First she had to sort out the thing with ditching Adam, agree to another date. Then she learned that Cat had named the doppelganger Bizarro, which was certainly unfair to the poor girl who Kara still believed was simply a pawn in all of this."

Cat Grant's son Adam was sort of sweet. He was respectful, he said nice things, and he liked Noonan's, and that was always a plus. But the world was full of things, dangerous things, and when the Tramway ended up dangling and the TV anchor said that the NCPD wouldn't get there in time, Kara knew she had to cut their date short.

Supergirl flew to the scene, saw the terrified passengers and tried to comfort them. "It's okay!" she said. "I'm going to get you out of here!"

She flew up to the cable to see what had gone wrong and try to pull the tram up again, but then something flew behind her and she turned to see... herself, hanging in the air, staring at her like a stranger.

Supergirl said, "It's you! Where did you come from? Did somebody send you? Are they making you do this?"

"We kill Supergirl."

"You don't have to do this. I can help you. What is your name?"

But the lookalike punched her in the jaw, kicked her in the chest, and tackled her down onto the cable car, sending it lurching and making the terrified passengers scream even louder. Supergirl kicked the woman away with both feet and jumped up, but when the woman fell back against the tram again, this time the cable gave out. The tram plummeted. Supergirl zoomed down to catch it and brought it to land.

When she looked around, her doppelganger was nowhere to be seen.

Supergirl returned to the DEO, and debriefed with Alex and Hank. "She's as strong as me, she fights like me, she flies like me. Except for the fact that she talks like Cookie Monster, she is exactly like me."

Hank said, "Red Tornado was programmed to mimic your fighting style and velocity. Dr. Morrow is dead, but perhaps schematics for an android--"

"No, but she's not an android. That's what I'm telling you. I looked into her eyes. And there was someone looking back. She has a soul, and somehow, it's like mine. And, Alex, I know you said a clone was impossible, but she does not just look like me. She is me."

Alex nodded. "The good news is if she's genetically the same as you or even similar to you, she has the same weakness. We can use kryptonite."

J'onn agreed. "We have to subdue her somehow. It's okay. We won't use enough to hurt her."

"Not seriously anyway," said Alex.

They watched Hank walk away and Supergirl turned to her sister. "Alex, I looked into her eyes. She's... She had a chance to attack me, when the tramway fell. She could have at the very least made me drop it into the bay with all those people, but she didn't."

"Maybe those weren't her orders. I still think this stinks of Max Lord. He's done other things to get data point about you. Maybe this is like that."

"I have met creatures that were evil. Creatures that were violent inherently. Creatures--people--like my Aunt Astra and Non, who are so wrapped up in their cause that they can't think straight. She doesn't seem like that to me."

"You've interacted with her for five minutes. She said three words. Cookie Monster, remember?"

"Yes, but--"

"Kara, go to work. Let the DEO work the problem." She hugged her little sister. "We'll figure it out."

//

Kara left the DEO frustrated, but really the CatCo was no better. First she had to sort out the thing with ditching Adam, agree to another date. Then she learned that Cat had named the doppelganger Bizarro, which was certainly unfair to the poor girl who Kara still believed was simply a pawn in all of this. Only two kinds of people used "we" as their pronoun: egotistical types (editors, kings) and people in teams. What if, all right, fine then, Bizarro had a handler? Someone who was calling the shots?

Luckily, Cat had meetings across town that afternoon, which left Kara free to go down to the office of Ed Flaherty (may he rest in peace) and see what Winn had been able to find for her.

"Jane Doe, your height, weight and coloring. She was taking to National City General about two years ago after a car crash. Been in a coma ever since."

"Where is she now?" asked Kara.

"Good question," said Winn. "She was transferred to a private facility, a Prometheus Genetics. Three guesses who owns it?"

"Max Lord," said Kara.

"Bingo. But here's the other thing that's upsetting. Over the past three months, six more Jane Does have been claimed by Prometheus."

Kara shook her head, unable to process what he had just said. "Seven girls?"

"I mean maybe it's taken him seven tried to make the perfect doppelganger."

And Kara's heart wrenched at the thought of seven lives thrown away in an effort to, what? Take her down? She had to fix this. She couldn't save the other six. But perhaps she could save this one girl.


	5. The Book of Maxwell, 3:1

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> "When I am broken, I return to my Lord, and he heals me. I sat in my chair that day after I watched Supergirl break away from fighting me, proving her strength against mine, to save those puny humans. I watched her do it. She didn't even hesitate. I would have hesitated. If they were weak enough to need that transportation thing to move through the air instead of flying, why were they worth saving at all?
> 
> And what was worth, anyway? It was a strange construct, a weighing of two things in a balance: effort on one hand, carbon-based bags of water on the other. I could not see what she saw in them."

When I am broken, I return to my Lord, and he heals me. I sat in my chair that day after I watched Supergirl break away from fighting me, proving her strength against mine, to save those puny humans. I watched her do it. She didn't even hesitate. I would have hesitated. If they were weak enough to need that transportation thing to move through the air instead of flying, why were they worth saving at all?

And what was worth, anyway? It was a strange construct, a weighing of two things in a balance: effort on one hand, carbon-based bags of water on the other. I could not see what she saw in them.

I almost did not hear what my Lord was saying to me, so caught up in my thoughts as I was.

"I ordered you to kill Supergirl," he intoned. "Why did you disobey me?"

I struggled to express my thoughts. "You say, Supergirl bad. But Supergirl help people. Supergirl not bad!"

My Lord nodded. "I understand. You share DNA. It's natural that you would want to see the best in her. But who do you trust, Supergirl or me?"

I looked at the picture of the smiling Supergirl from the news report about her saving a couple in a car. But my Lord is standing in front of me, close enough to touch. If I touched the image of her, I would not touch her.

"Who do you love? Supergirl? Or me?"

I had touched the woman the night before. We punched each other. I showed her that she should pay attention to me, because I am strong. I fly. I can kill her with my hands. But she is not here now. My Lord is here now, almost close enough to touch.

"Just remember," he intoned. "The world is a very complicated place, kiddo."

He touched my hair. "Sometimes things that seem to be good, are really very, very bad."

And I nodded. He touched my hair. My Lord touched my hair. He must be right.


	6. Righteous Anger

Supergirl had never seen Alex this angry before. She had superchanged and flown to the DEO when she got the text.

AgentLabRat: DEO now. Keep me from killing Max.

AgentPotsticker: Alex? WT?

AgentLabRat: Vasquez is sparring with me to keep me down, but you need to be here.

AgentPotsticker: OMW

When they all converged at the DEO command center, Vasquez was dropping into her seat in front of the computers, wiping off sweat with a red handkerchief. Alex was stalking toward the conference table, growling, "He all but admitted it. He took all those girls. Seven. He made the Bizarro you."

"Bizarro?" asked Hank. "Is that what we're going with?"

"Another CatCo trademark," said Supergirl.

"So how do we stop her?" asked Hank.

Alex had a plan. "We arm our agents with kryptonite darts. And we take her out the next time she shows her face."

"But she's not the villain here," said Supergirl. "She's the victim. It's Max we should be going after."

Alex looked surprised. "You're acting as if she's a person and not an experiment. But that's what she is, Kara. She's one of Max's deranged science projects."

"So why don't we just arrest Max?"

Hank said, "We're the DEO. We don't exist. We certainly don't have the authority to arrest private citizens. Especially world-famous billionaires. Briefing the strike team in ten."

Hank strode off. Alex took Supergirl by the arm. She said, voice low, "All right, there's something I wanted to tell you. Not in front of Hank. When I was with Max, he mentioned you..."

"In what way?"

"Like, in a weird way, as if he knew we were related. But there's no way he could, is there?"

"No. No way. No, he's trying to get into your head and rattle you. That's what he does, the jerk!" Supergirl glanced at her phone and then started to text.

"What are you doing?"

"Canceling my date with Adam. It's too crazy right now."

"No, no, no. That is exactly why you should go. It's never going to be good timing, so you can't wait around until it gets better. You may be Supergirl, but you're Kara Danvers too. And she deserves a life. So, go! We'll hold down the fort."

Kara smiled. "Thanks, Alex." Was it practical? Nope. But had anything been practical since she had leaped into the air to catch a falling airplane?

//

The date with Adam was sweet. She told him why she liked working for his mother. She told him her parents had died in an accident. He was really nice about it. And then Bizarro swooped down and flew away with her.

So. Typical Kara Danvers second date.

Luckily, after several weeks as Supergirl, Kara knew National City from several hundred feet above, even at night. Bizarro flew her to a park on a ridge above the city and dropped her into the dirt. Her glasses went... somewhere.

Kara struggled to her feet to square off with... herself, sort of. She said, "Please, you're making a mistake."

The other woman stared at her for a second and then their laser vision rays met between them.

How many times in the past two months had Kara had X-ray duels with enemies, with family, always the same: meet laser to laser, circle each other, try to get closer-- But this was different. This time steam came out of the confluence of their powers. She broke off.

"Please, please," she said, "you don't want to do this."

That's when the fistfight began, as they traded punches, sent each other flying, flew at each other, knocked each other down. Then with Kara on the ground, Bizarro sent fire breath at her and Kara responded with her own freeze breath. When they were both gasping, Bizarro flew at Kara, who had gotten to her feet, and Kara grabbed Bizarro's fists, and they grappled while DEO jeeps drove up the hill to them.

Kara heard Alex say, "Got her in our sights."

Kara punched Bizarro away from her.

"Fire!"

The jeeps shot green bullets at Bizarro.

"Again!"

Another rain of green.

"Alex, no!"

"She's down!" Alex ran over to Kara. "You all right?"

They watched as Bizarro pushed herself up from the ground. Her face cracked, paled, and her mouth writhed.

Alex said, "The kryptonite, it's degrading her, corrupting her!"

Bizarro stood, screamed, "HATE! YOU!" and leaped into the air and sped out of sight.

Kara fell to the ground, looking like she was going to puke.

"It's the kryptonite. You can't go after her. Not now."

//

Back at the DEO, Kara was pissed and Alex was backpedalling as fast as she could.

"Kara, I was just trying to protect you."

"Alex, you were right. He knows. Maxwell Lord. Bizarro didn't come after me as Supergirl this time. She came after me as Kara. He knows who I am, which means he knows where I work, he knows we're sisters, about Eliza. Nowhere, no one is safe anymore. I told you. I warned you he was dangerous."

She charged into the lab with Alex trailing behind, in shock a little bit.

Hank said, "Where's Bizarro?"

"Things didn't go quite according to plan," said Alex. "Bizarro is equal in strength to Kara, but her powers are directly oppositional. We hit her with the kryptonite but instead of weakening her--"

"It made her stronger," said Hank. "So, once again, a super-powered monster is unleashed on National City."

"And this one is controlled by Maxwell Lord," said Kara.

"Whoever is behind this," said Hank, "we have to neutralize the threat. You say she's diametrically opposed to Kara?"

"Fire breath, freeze vision. It's like she's a mirror image."

"In that case, I'll have the lab reverse-engineer the chemical compound for our synthetic kryptonite. If its atomic structure is making Bizarro stronger, changing its ionic charge should have an oppositional affect." He glanced at them. "Anything else you'd like to share?"

"No," said Alex. "Sir."

He left the lab.

Kara said, "No plan is going to work until we take out Max Lord."

"How do you suggest we do that?"

"All I know is that there are so many threats out there: Bizarro. Non and Astra. I can't face all of that and Maxwell Lord too. It's time to stop him once and for all."

//

It took a while, but Alex finally convinced Kara to return to CatCo, manage her Kara-life, let Alex and the DEO sort out how to manage her Supergirl-life. At first she resisted, but she had been letting Alex sort out her life for twelve years. Old habits were hard to break. So she went back to work, found Cat and Adam worried sick about her, apologized, made weak excuses, broke up with the best guy she had met in a long darn time.


	7. The Book of Maxwell, 4:1

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> "I returned to my Lord, broken and disfigured, hoping he would tell me I was no less beautiful in his eyes, for lo, he was my creator and to him I would always be beautiful. But I was disappointed. The moment he laid eyes upon me, I could sense his disgust and appall. I tried to tell him how hard I had fought, but, as always, words failed me."

I returned to my Lord, broken and disfigured, hoping he would tell me I was no less beautiful in his eyes, for lo, he was my creator and to him I would always be beautiful. But I was disappointed. The moment he laid eyes upon me, I could sense his disgust and appall. I tried to tell him how hard I had fought, but, as always, words failed me.

He said, "Supergirl made you a monster. If I were you, I'd be very angry about that. I'd want to take away anyone that Supergirl loves."

And he left me, sitting in my chair, considering my options. Supergirl was inside me as well as outside me. We were one, although we were separate, parted, apart. But I knew her heart, and I knew the men and women who dwelled therein.

And I devised a plan.

My Lord had given me the city, on a map and on photos by day and by night, to memorize, so it was no large feat to find CatCo and land on its balcony when I finally saw the James Olsen standing there alone. His lines were pleasurable to look upon.

He saw me and said, "Kara, I-- What the hell?"

And I screamed my rage and flew him away into the night.

//

It took great self-discipline, to bring the Olsen to the old energy facility, to tear off his watch, to tape his hands to the pipe and to keep myself from beating his face with my hands. But that would achieve nothing. And I wanted to achieve what my Lord had tasked me with: the destruction of Supergirl. I had not only watched the newsreels about Supergirl. I had also studied Superman, and more specifically, his rival Lex Luthor. I knew that one of the human baits was a loved one. Kara loved James, so I stole James, taped him up and waited impatiently.

And I could not beat on him with impunity as I desired. To do so would make his lines less pleaurable to look upon.

Instead, I paced back and forth. What else could I do while I waited for him to wake? When I finally sensed him sentient again, I whipped around, saw him wiggling his foot.

"No move!" I ordered.

He stopped. "Okay. I won't move. Why did you bring me here?"

How could I explain my imperative need to bring the Supergirl, the other one, to her knees, force her to kneel to my Lord? How could I explain how the only one would would serve as bait was the James Olsen?

"Supergirl loves you."

"How do you know that?"

I stared at him. How could he not know how much Supergirl loved him? Did he not see it in her eyes when she looked upon him?

I ventured, "Supergirl and me, same."

"Why don't you come closer so I can see you?"

I pulled away. Once I had looked like her, so beautiful, but now I was a foul thing.

"No!"

"Why not?"

"Ugly."

"You know, we, we all feel ugly sometimes. We all feel like no one loves us, like maybe they never will. And you may not look like her right now, but there is a part of you that still is Supergirl. I can feel it. People don't love her because of what she looks like on the outside. I love her because of who she is, because she's brave, because she's kind, and she always tries to do the right thing. And you can be the same. You're not a monster."

I turned away but then I sensed his movement as he tried to hit his watch with his heel.

"LIAR!" I sent my flaming breath at him. The whole world stopped.


	8. Taking the Shot

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> "Wait, she was supposed to have learned my fighting style, which means she should be fighting me to a standstill the way Red Tornado did. But instead, she's failing. She's not blocking my punches, I'm landing way more punches than she is, she even looks out of breath, but I don't get out of breath. It's almost like she wants to lose..."

As Alex molded the pale blue gel into bullet heads, Supergirl paced behind her, listening as hard as she could for James's heartbeat. "Either he's in a lead-lined building or she's already--" she started, but then she heard James yelling her name, while a skewed signal that sounded like his watch reported and died. "It's James," she said. "She has him."

"The compound is ready," said Hank. "The exact molecular opposite to green kryptonite."

"You move her into position and I'll take the shot," said Alex.

"Will this stuff work?" asked Supergirl

"We're gonna find out," said Alex. She placed the blue bullets into a padded ammo case and grabbed her gun.

//

Supergirl flew to the facility, landed on the ground inside. She took in Bizarro, with her broken face, and beyond her, James with his arms taped above his head.

Bizarro turned and declared, "I kill Supergirl."

And as Kara sent her freeze breath at the woman directing fire breath at her, she wondered at the change in pronoun. Was it simply and existential shift, the creature finally separating from its creator? Or was it a statement of an individual, personalized mission?

No matter. As they fought each other with the elemental versions of their thinking styles, steam rose into the air, creating a fog, but once Kara was close enough, she kicked Bizarro in the chest, sending her flying. They traded punches, but Kara landed more than the clone of her did. Apparently Max Lord hadn't taught her to block as well as Alex Danvers had taught Supergirl. Then Supergirl kicked Bizarro out one of the second story windows, and had to wait, panting, until she flew back to the fight.

One of the strange things that occasionally happened, like this time, in a fight, was the way there were two speeds for Supergirl. She fought in real time, but she thought in superspeed and what she thought this time was this:

Wait, she was supposed to have learned my fighting style, which means she should be fighting me to a standstill the way Red Tornado did. But instead, she's failing. She's not blocking my punches, I'm landing way more punches than she is, she even looks out of breath, but I don't get out of breath. It's almost like she wants to lose...

They traded more punches, sent each other flying again, and finally ended up in the air, grappling for each other's throats. Bizarro was squeezing Supergirl's throat.

In her ear, she heard Alex say, "I can't get a clear shot."

"Shoot!"

"Kara, I don't know what this is going to do to you if I hit you..."

"Take the shot!

Suddenly, Bizarro's hands loosened, and her face glowed pale blue. She fell to the ground. Kara hovered for a second, gasping for breath. Then she landed, looked down on her fallen self, and went and freed James Olsen.

//

They packed up the trucks and brought everyone back to the DEO. Alex sat, looking exhausted, but Kara couldn't comfort her. James sat, looking lost, but Kara couldn't comfort him either. She sat with her arms around Bizarro, who kept coming in and out of consciousness. When they reached the DEO, medics took her away promising Kara that they'd help her, while Vasquez quietly took Supergirl to her office to debrief.

When that was done, Supergirl returned to Medical.

Hank said, "She's been asking for you."

Supergirl hurried to the bed where Bizarro lay, looking like her, so like her, so like a broken and destroyed version of her.

"Hi, I'm here."

"I'm... sorry."

"I know. I'm sorry too."

Quietly, Hank said, "We're going to put her under, to the way she was when I first saw her."

"She won't feel any pain, will she?" asked Supergirl with some urgency.

"She won't feel anything."

"We have to try to help her."

"We will."

Supergirl took the other woman's hand. "I'm going to hold your hand until you fall asleep, okay?"

"Afraid."

"I know. I once went to sleep for a long time, too. I was afraid." She looked back at Alex. "When I woke up, I wasn't alone. You're not going to be alone either."

Her effort was obvious, but she said, "Thank. You. Kara."

Then her eyes fluttered closed. Kara inhaled, trying not to cry. Even Hank looked a little distraught, and Alex.

Kara said, "She didn't deserve what happened to her."

"She did not," said Hank.

"Maxwell Lord made her to be just like me. And she was."

//

It took her nearly half an hour before she felt she could visit Maxwell Lord's containment cell at the DEO without breaking through the walls that protected him and beating his brain to mush. She entered the cell and watched him for a moment before he realized she was there. Immediately, even sleepy, he said, "I guess my girl came in second place."

"Yeah, we'll see how funny you find that when you've been in here a couple of years."

"I'd say you're different from your cousin when it comes to truth, justice and the American way, but holding someone indefinitely against their will? Can't get much more American than that."

"You will never hurt anyone ever again."

"Anyone like Eliza Danvers? That's some cute house you grew up in, in Midvale. Right along the beach? Idyllic."

Kara's eyes burned, ready to laser him into the next world. Or planet.

But then Alex strode in, saying, "He's not worth it!"

"Agent Danvers! My hero."

But it was enough to break the spell. Supergirl turned away and headed for the door.

"Bye-bye, sisters! See you soon!"

And although Maxwell Lord thought he was simply being glib, as always, in fact he was more prescient than he actually thought.


End file.
